tallgeese

The reason you see what you do in the UFC now is because the past 15 yrs or so have served as a crucible to test things in. The reason that the vast majority of kicks thrown are low line rounds and most hand tactics revovlve around boxing style striking (granted with some adaptation, it is not the sweet science in there) is because that's what time has shown us works reliably. And, before the wars start , work reliably given the arena in which they are being employed. I'd argue that those core things you see in there are pretty effective anywhere, which is why they also work within the octagon. Nothing agaist anything taught in other competivive venues. Like I said, I probibly woundn't turn the WCL off. It's just a matter of showcasing different skill sets in competition. That's all.

Very good point. Again, something to be aware of.

Congrats!

For 1st dan- (no particular order) demonstrate: basic to advanced strikes hand/foot all in combination our sytems "angle drills" thru the ranks proficient in grappling with empahsis on positional concerns submission skills rolls/falls/throws taking strikes knife and club skills and defenses trapping drills tuite manuvers from designated attacks joint manipulation skills from various attacks self defense from grabs through to spontaneous defenses agaisnt random attacks starting with punches/kicks and working up to knife/club and gun and integrating the above skills. defese against an armored opponant set to "attack mode" next add weapon free grappling and free sparring, various rules, gear, start positions and contact levels. At black belt level this is an hour long portion, it is capped by rounds of multiple attackers. Some of our schools also have some intereset in pressure point fighitng and this is tested as well. As for my guys, demonstrated proficiency in handgun safety, care, and use is also mandintory. There is also some suggested reading material by this point. Secrets of the Samurai, LIving the Martial Way, and a few others. Total time for the test is around 3 hours. Time from WB to BB is between 4-5 years on average. Lat time I checked, for an adult rank, we didn't test anyone for this rank before they were 16 on paper. In reality, I think 18 or 19 was our youngest by far.

Welcome aboard, you'll find that the community here is pretty great.

Yeah, met too Throwdown, but it's another outlet for the combat experience so it can't be all bad .

Best of the Best ranks high. But really you have to give it to Enter the Dragon.

Valid concerns about my argument DWx, here's why I think the way I do. First off, there is a sizeable difference in mechanics of high kicks vs. low kicks. Gereneally speaking, you can better utilize body weight in lower line kicking (at least for most of us mortals its easier). This creates more skills I have to take time to practice, thus those less likely to be used have to be viewed through my time spent training vs. time available to train prisim. Higher kicks are more complex to land by nature and complex skills take longer to get acclimated to. Not only do you have to worry about timeing and distance (and you are correct, these are concerns even with lowline kicks) but now you have to do it while your foot is in the air longer. Which brings us to a vaild point- the longer your foot is off the ground, the longer you mobility is severly limited. This means that you are more vuneralble longer. This is a major problem since movement is key to winning a fight. Lastly, on the time front, you have to look at the sheer amount of time it will take a normal person to be able to reach a flexability level where head high kicking is easily performed. This can be a long time in and of itself. That's time I could be pounding MT pads low and perfecting that weapon. To the enviornmental concerns I will say that I concur. Other tactics are better suited. I was merely pointing out that the higher the kick, the more ikely it is to be affected by these factors. As far at their availiability in a sd context it's just too hard to say. There are simply too many variables in these situations to really say anything for certain. Could be true one time and not true the next. As for training with gear, it's way easier to put a shield by someone's ribs and have them move realistically while hammering it full tilt than it is to do this to a headgear. Bottom line is that it's just darn hard to protect the head from attacks like this, so lots of arts pull the contact greatly. This gets their people used to throwing great kicks with relitivly little power. Not everyone doing high kicks certainly, but lots of people. Lastly, you make the argument that if one can kick high well then lower kicks will be better. This idea is not without merit. A more well rounded fighter does have more options at his disposal. However, I prefer to put a majority of my limited training time into weapons that I plan on using a bulk of the time. Why train for cross-over effectiveness when I can actually train the skill directly? That being said, I do occassionally work on my high kicks. Usually as an afterthouht and usually during sparring sessions. Again, not without merit.

I agree, I figured you'd like that little gem. Actaully, that whole section is fairly interesting.

Ok, see what you started here bushido man, quoting and all . Now you've got me reading it. Here's a bit of wisdom that seems to reference a couple of other discussions we're having elsewhere- from the Fire Scroll: "since it is a matter of gaining victory quickly by preemption, therefore preemption is the foremost concern in martial arts"

All good points. Also, some people are inherently goal oriented. They set a finish point that they desire to acheive and get there. A black belt, in may systems, is a sign that you've achived a great deal of unarmed skill in particular method of combat. Not a bad goal. On the other hand, some are process oriented. For us, it's the actual steps that we take that make the journey worthwhile, not the final product. For those people, it will always be easier to continue past such a milestone. Still others. enjoy the arts and thier benifits, but truely haven't made them part of their life. For those people, it's easy enough to experiment to balck belt and move on. Heck, how many of us have walked away from hobbies in the past for one reason or another? It's because we don't make those things part of what identifies us. For those who leave at black belt, it may be much the same thing.

That was utterly fantastic! The costumes were a brilliant touch!

Ok, someone brought up a mag-lite so I just had to chime in. I've always wanted to have someone spot weld a tire hitch onto the butt end of one of those big D-cell mags. Now that would be a beating stick and a half . I actaully inquired about it to a welder friend of mine and he said that the material that comprises the battery compartment cap wouldn't take the process. Bummer. Well, I can keep dreaming.

Yeah, Couture is in it. It's a straigt to video relese. I didn't care for the first one that much. I went in expecting Conan and I got Herculeas: The Legendary Journies instead, not a happy moment. So needless to say, I'm not expecting much out of this one. Still, Couture is in it so, sorry to say, I'll probibly rent it at some point just to see how he is in it. He did a couple of cameos on CBS's The Unit last season and wasn't bad. But we'll see.

I've never heard of it either. But tenshinka makes a good point about modern translations. Many of the younger systemitized arts have more lenient or interpertive takes on what is ment behind the original language. I don't think that's a horrible thing, heck, I come out of such a system. But it does make translating things harder that's for sure. What's more important to me is the lineage of the new art, where it has it's roots, who were the teachers for those root arts, how far did the instructor progress in those arts? Not to mention, is the system effective for training students to defend themselves in real world scenarios? That's the meat of it. I do always like to hear every students take on the translations of the name of the art they are studying. Even in traditional arts with long historys you can sometimes get some interesting insights from practitioners that go beyond the simple words that form the name.

I'm typically a diversity guy, always the one who kind of approves of splits and such. I even argued in another thread about how the Parker systems probibly shouldn't reunite due to stylistic differences atthis point. However, on this subject I'd agree that unification wouldn't be a bad thing. TKD is a major competive arena around the world. Currently, I think that there are too many splintered organizations to make a cohesive set of regulations and unified titles and such. Given what most of the organizations are trying to do, a merge of two of it's largest would go a long way to accomplishing the goals each have set out. It would probibly put an end to a lot of needless in-fighting between groups that I've seen. Not being affilated with either it's way easier for me to say than those affected by such actions. It's just an outsiders view.

I'm always happy to see another combat fight league out there for athletes to work specific skill in an arena, so on that front it's good. Hopefully, it makes a go of it. With the UFC juggernaught dominating marketing it will be an uphill struggle. Still, I do hope it survives in a niche kind of role at least. Bottom line, I probably wouldn't turn it off.

As in all competition, how the points are scored are usually up to the judges descretion. SOme will automatically award better for kicking, others for aggression and ring control, ect. A ten point must fall to this problem as well. At the end of the day rack it up as a win and be happy about it. COmpete long enough and you will probibly have one awarded the other way that you should have won. Good luck in future fights.

3 rounds of mitt work, punches and kicks 1 round of mitts to takedown 1 round of angle drills with mitts escape training 10 min arm bar/triangle work 15 min 4, 3 min rounds of free rolling 3, 2 min rounds of free sparring chest/tris to finish off morning

Haven't played any, but what I would do is try is down in the comments box. The one guy there is talking about a toned down version of BLood of Heros, an old Rutger Hower film. Now that I'd try. Too bad they got rid of the dog skull

Yes, striking the throat can be very helpful in a sd context. As with all things, the amount of force applied will determine how much damage and as a result, how life threatening it will be. You can crush the wind pipe, that's for sure. But to a lesser degree you may only cause soft tissue damage to it or the surrounding soft tissue or fracture the hyoid bone which maintains structure. Death is not always the end result, although it can be. It's actually harder to soidily hit the trachea during conflict than one might think. People tend to naturally tuck their chin a bit when punching, makeing it a more difficlut target to strike. Some people breath or yell while striking, making the target more durable. Sometimes, someo f these bursiers have so much neck muscle it's hard to get force to transfer well. So as with all things, consider it one more tool, noting more or less. I find it to be more successfully used from rising shots say with an elbow or uppercut. Also, foreamrs thrown upwards will increase the chances of making good contact, but will sacrifice point of energy transfer because of their size. The most effective movement against the throat that I've used and gotten the most immediate response out of peope from, is actaully grabbing the windpipe and the end of a tie-up sequence. No, you can't rip the thing out, but you can cradle it a squeeze it with more reliable results of injury than trying to stike it as a moving target. Just some thoughts. As for justification, I never take anything off the table. Any conflict may become life thretening. In this case, any weapon you use is justified. Including striking to the throat with the intent to collapse the trachea. Just make certain you understand what constitutes a life thretening situation and be able to articulate it.

Less than enthusiastic about this one. Kimbo hasn't impressed me as much as his hype has, that's for sure. Noting agaisnt the guy, he's certany got tools, but the internet has really pushed this guy further along than it seems he's ready for IMO. As for Shamrock, he was one of the greats for his time. You can't take away his accomplishments early on in the game and he deserves respect for that. But, he hasn't evolved along with the sport. His guard game is still very static, not fluid and active at all. Those are the guys winning from their back these day. He's just past his prime as a fighter, it happens to all of us. I think it'd be better for him to hang it up permanatly and let us remember the Shamrock of old. Still, it's hard to walk away from competition when it's what you do. At that level it must be nearly impossible. But as far as excitement over th is match up, just not there for me.

Just for the sake of argument...maybe it's still relevent as written. Maybe the highest goal to strive for in training is to use that training in the service of something greater than ourselves, not just the art itself but whatever cause we ascribe to. And maybe, the highest honor we can attain is by paying the piper while doing so. Maybe dying like that is the capstone in a martial career. Just a thought...."Slide locked back on my last empty magazine" and all. Bushido man, you might remember that thread.

Yes, it is almost that time of year. Maybe now baseball won't be on everytime I turn on the tube. Well, the Bears haven't treated me well in pre-season. Orton showed a passable game last week, but he's still far from the field general we need. And the defense hasn't seem to really wake up yet. Well, it's only the pre-season.

I recommend fighting back always and immediately. I also recommend that it be done as viciously and violently as possible with a final success being escape from the situation and survival both physically and emotionally. I agree, avoidence should be optimally stressed. Most sex assualts happen as a crime of opportunity. The guys who will stalk prey are, thankfully, few and far between. Are they out there...you bet, but not setting up an oppoturnity for it to occur will cut down dramatically on it's likleyhood. I don't think, as any civilized person would agree, that it should ever occur under any circumstance. However, this is reality that we live in, taking steps to protect yourself is more important than "shoulds". Lots of assults occur in proximity to drinking and/or drugs, like most of them. So, minimizine the amout of alcohol one consumes in the presence of males she dosen't trust (not know, it's two entirely diffent things) will go a long way to keep you out of those situations. It won't make it impossible for bad things to happen to you, but we're talking about minimizing the opportunity for attacks here. Likewise, not being around memebers of the opposite sex when they've had too much to drink is not a bad idea either. Again, we go to oppotunity. What will always limit this is mutiple women in any setting looking out for each other and not letting anyone get seperated without full consent. It's been brought to my attention that those of us who teach women's self defense often only teach physical skills when what's really needed is a more wholeistic approach. One that deals with how women view themselves in society and such. It's not a bad idea and was bronght to me by one of the best sd ma-ist I know. I also think that it is out of the realm of our expertise, at least mine. Avoidance, physical aggression, tactics, I can teach all of these things but beyond that, I'm pretty much useless. Perhaps cooridnation of sd class focusing on sex assult prevention should have the interaction of domestic violence prevention agancies and assult counslers. It's an idea I'm looking into for further developing my womens sd course. For my part, in this larger picture, I'll still focus on teaching the most destructive, aggressive patterns of movement I can and hope that something takes and is useful.